MiningWatch Canada was pleased to learn of the Superior Court of Quebec's recent rejection of a suit filed against Ugo Lapointe of the Coalition Québec meilleure mine.

For a relatively small project, Castle Resources' proposed Elmtree gold mine is raising a lot of concerns amongst the citizens of north-eastern New Brunswick.

News release: Despite acknowledging that project does not have a social licence to proceed and identifying a long list inadequacies in the environmental assessment, the panel makes a finding that the project is unlikely to have significant environmental effects and recommends approval of the project, albeit with a host of unenforceable conditions.

News release: MiningWatch Canada was alarmed to learn today that Cap-Ex Ventures Ltd. (Cap-Ex), a Vancouver-based junior, has proceeded with exploration activities in direct violation of agreements made with the Innu of Uashat mak Mani-Utenam (ITUM) who have made considerable efforts to engage with the company and reach an agreement for exploration to proceed on their traditional territory.

An audit of the BC Environmental Assessment Office (BC EAO) raises explosive evidence of the length to which the BC government went to help Taseko Mines Ltd.

Faced with ongoing pressures from the mining sector KI have developed a Water Declaration and Consultation Protocols.

Joint news release with Council of Canadians and Common Frontiers: Yet another anti-mining activist has been murdered in El Salvador. Canadian civil society organizations are calling for a full investigation into the murder of Juan Francisco Durán Ayala, the fourth such death in two years that local organizations believe are linked to the presence of Vancouver-based Pacific Rim Mining in the department of Cabañas.

Salvadoran Juan Francisco Durán Ayala, anti-mining activist and university student, has been murdered (background information below). Join the Environmental Committee of Cabañas (CAC) and Juan Francisco's family in calling on the Attorney General and National Civilian Police to carry out an exhaustive investigation into the material and intellectual authors of this brutal murder and to and protect the lives of all anti-mining activists in El Salvador.

In an open letter released today, over two hundred environmental and health groups, labour unions and scientists from Asia, Africa, North & South America and Europe [including MiningWatch Canada], call on Prime Minister Harper to stop preventing the UN Rotterdam Convention from adding chrysotile asbestos to its list of hazardous substances. Chrysotile asbestos represents 100% of the global asbestos trade.

On a flashy new website, Taseko claims that it has addressed all of the issues raised by the review panel and that it continues to work collaboratively with the First Nations on whose traditional territory the massive open pit operation would be located.